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Using AT&T international data plan with iphone5 in France

I have been content using my IPhone as we travel in Europe with just wifi for data. I do not use my iPhone for phone calls. now I'm thinking it might be useful to get the smallest AT&T data plan ($30 for 120MB) to be able to use the iPhone for mapping and looking at bus/metro lines as we walk about Paris over the next two weeks. however I keep reading that the data plan charges are outrageous and get used up quickly. I would not check email or download large files. Just some surfing should do it. What have others experienced? My phone is locked so can't get a sim card. Thanks

I did that in December, though with an iphone4. I heard the same thing so monitored my use. I was shocked at how little I was using. Like you, I used wifi in the apartment and bought an international text package to communicate with family. The last couple of days I just kept the 3G on. Can't remember exactly how much I used but it was way under the limit. I cancelled the international plans as soon as I returned and was refunded the balance of the monthly charges the next month.

Thanks! and you even got a refund? We would only need it for a little more than two weeks. how long did you use it? today several places had free wifi so I could update our route as we moved about, but still think it might be nice to have it readily available all the time.

Reporting back on my experience - In 16 days I used 76 of the 120 MBs. AT&T& did not give me any rebate on the unused portion. I was actually given two different variations on the unused usage, but both were you pay for the 120MBs whether u use them or not.

I found it useful to have the data mainly for navigating or figuring out the nearest bus/metro to take to get us to our next destination. When we started out I would map the route on google or apple map and could use that offline to get around, but it wasn't great with transportation options. The app from the Paris metro was great too, but I never could never figure out a way to use it offline so that used bits and bytes. A few times I emailed photos or surfed the web. I could have easily used less data but since I wasn't sure about getting a rebate since they do not do that with the plan for the iPad, I used the data fairly loosely. For $30 it was well worth it. although I have to say that many restaurants have free wifi if u ask and of course for years we relied on maps and did just fine. I used an app to keep track of usage to ensure I didn't go over my limit.

One app that was useful was the Time Out which you could use offline. You could find out what sites, restaurants etc were near you which was a nice feature if you were looking to find something nearby. In a couple instances for restaurants it was out of date.